Kirby: Triple Deluxe launches in Japan on 11th January, just a few weeks from now, but today's Nintendo Direct broadcasts didn't narrow down the Western release any more than '2014'. Nevertheless, we did get to see a lot more of the game in action and learned of some additional mini-games that will be featured.

First of all Satoru Iwata showed footage of the main game in action, emphasizing the ability of Kirby to jump into the background and foreground at various points, which should look rather attractive on the autostereoscopic 3DS screen. There were some fun moments, such as a tree falling to destroy a platform in the background, and a train zooming forward towards our here in the foreground. It was highlighted that it'll feature 20 different copy abilities including four that are new to this title, with the Bells looking like a means of stunning enemies; the Hypernova ability, meanwhile, with power up the pink one so that he can cause dramatic damage.

Also shown were two mini-games that will feature. First up is Kirby Fighters, a four-player brawl where each character is powered up with one of 10 copy abilities, touted as a way of deciding once and for all which abilities are the most powerful. Then there's Dedede’s Drum Dash, which is a rhythm-based game that tasks you with collecting points while keeping up with popular tracks from the series.

It certainly looked charming and fun. Once Nintendo releases official footage we'll add it below; in the meantime, what did you think of the Triple Deluxe showing in today's Nintendo Direct?

Dedede's mini-game sounds pretty good to me. In fact, I'd like to see games starring Nintendo villains. Like King Dedede's Dream Land. Or a Bowser game, they almost did it with Bowser's Inside Story... to be fair, I'd be happy with a new Wario Land.

Well, I'm even more excited for the game after that! Kirby Fighters itself looks like a fun game. Over 20 abilities, including new ways to use some classics... Sounds good. @rafaelluik Kirby Fighters may be a dumbed down Smash Bros, but it's a great deal for a Kirby game.I hope that it's better, too. Kirby's Yarn was a disgrace to Kirby.

The is genuinely one of thee best ALL-ROUND looking games coming from Nintendo in the near future. On both it's platforms (and I don't just mean in terms of graphics).

Even just the Brawl style mini-game alone looks brilliant and that's just a bonus mode.

I just wish Iwata was making all his other teams put as much love, attention and polish into all Nintendo's other games, like the the New Super Mario Bros games for example, as he's obviously checking and making sure they put into every aspect of these last few Kirby games.